Heads-up display is a motorized plastic lens that rises from the dash, and it won’t stay put due to bumps in the road or on less-than-smooth highway, so it’s more or less worthless — you find yourself either sitting up or crouching down to read it depending on the road surface. Lots of road noise inside on the highway. Active headlights (which turn corners based on steering wheel input) bounce around, which is distracting.

Verdict

My daily driver Charger SRT8 makes a lot of power, but I wasn’t missing it in this Mazda, which is light, quick, and has a very driver-friendly direct feel in its steering, braking, and acceleration — especially in Sport mode. For the daily grind, this is all the car you should ever need: more than enough interior space, lots of helpful tech features (I really liked the blind spot monitors in the side mirrors and the stereo’s easy-to-use Pandora integration), and good economy, even when you’re having fun with it. The best part? $29k as delivered. That’s a deal.